Regular readers of this blog are likely familiar with the work of Rollins, a Belfast-born philosopher-theologian and one of the founders of the ikon collective. Rollins is now based in Los Angeles and his latest book, The Divine Magician, will be published in the New Year.

Moody is an academic whose research centres on the relationship between continental philosophy, radical theology and lived religion, while Elerick is a human rights activist.

And while Rollins’ thought is probably most accurately located on the fringes of the (ECM), his efforts and those of others to bring radical theology into the ECM conversation have the potential to influence the direction of the movement – if it can still be classified as such – in different directions.

In The Deconstructed Church, we quote from a 1972 Modern Churchman article by John Macquarrie in which he explains what distinguishes radical theology from liberal theology (p. 170):

‘… Macquarrie argues that radical theology takes as its point of departure “the death of God,” that radical theology is a theology of “revolution” while liberal theology is a theology of “evolution,” and that “radical theology seeks the overthrow and transformation not only of traditional religious values but the values of prevailing culture as well.”’

Several of the weekend’s talks and discussions defined and described radical theology. Rollins, for his part, seems to see radical theology as providing the intellectual basis for a ‘religionless Christianity’ that is concerned with the welfare of the world today rather than what happens in the world to come.

The content of the conference wasn’t always easy going. In the final Question and Response session, one of the questions was, ‘Can Peter please write a Radical Theology for Dummies book?’ Another participant refined the request as a Radical Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed book, and it later occurred to me that a book on radical theology in Oxford’s ‘Very Short Introduction’ series would not go amiss either.

But several of the illustrations and definitions of radical theology presented by the speakers were especially useful for me:

The Woman with the Water and the Fire

Rollins shared what he said was an Islamic parable about a woman who wandered the earth carrying both water and fire. The water was to extinguish the fires of hell and the fire was to burn away heaven. Her motivation for doing so was that she would do the good on earth for no other reason than to do the good — neither fearing punishment in hell or striving for reward in heaven.

He said that for him radical theology was ‘finding the Absolute on earth, amongst each other somehow.’ For him, this is a ‘materialist Christianity that loves the world, people and causes.’

Radical Theology as Bringing the Repressed to the Surface

Rollins’ later work has drawn on Lacanian psychoanalysis, one of the assumptions of which is that therapy is about bringing the repressed to the surface. This can happen on an individual level in therapy, but Rollins also sees this happening through the prophets of religious traditions. So, Jesus brought up what was repressed in the Judaism of his time, Luther brought up what was repressed in the Catholicism of his time, and so on. They created radical ruptures which brought equally radical and sometimes unintended changes. Such changes were later institutionalised and needed new prophets to critique them.

This is a view similar to that of the philosopher John Caputo, who sees radical theology as ‘haunting’ confessional theology, drawing attention to what makes particular manifestations of religion unhealthy or oppressive.

In his presentations, Elerick emphasised how difficult it can be for people inside a system to see how they might be perpetuating it – even as they seem to be critiquing it. To illustrate, he played a clip from the Maria Treanor song It’s all about the Bass, which while it seems to critique our culture’s obsession with the thin female body, still objectifies women as physical objects to please men.

Radical theologians, then, must be wary that if their critiques bring the repressed to the surface, it is in a way that is not simply absorbed and institutionalised by the system.

Radical Theology is A/theistic and Materialist

One of Moody’s presentations traced the development of radical theology to the atheist and materialist critiques of 19th Century philosophers, including Feuerbach, Marx, Freud, Nietzsche, Hegel and Kant. Each of these thinkers contributed different insights to debates about religion. But broadly speaking, they all identified religion as a form of illusionary escapism for those seeking consolation from the struggles of this world.

Radical theologians, on the other hand, embrace atheistic and materialist critiques as valid. They strive to develop an ‘a/theistic’ theology that is not tied up in questions about God’s existence or the afterlife. For them, it is only when we strip ourselves of the illusionary aspects of religion that we will grasp its ‘revolutionary’ potential.

Part of doing this is giving up on the ‘escapist’ fantasy of ‘humanity’s importance’ and accepting ‘humanity’s insignificance.’

“you cannot be fulfilled; you cannot be made whole; you cannot find satisfaction” (page 79).

For radical theologians, this perspective frees people to live life to the full. Life is ‘for nothing but itself’ (Caputo), and should assume ever greater value and intensity for the fleeting gift that it is. As Rollins put it in one of his talks, the Christianity that you think will ‘make you complete disappears,’ and what you get back is the ‘sacred in the material objects of life’ and a faith that is ‘an existential protest against meaninglessness.’

A substantial number of participants at the conference commented, during sessions and informal conversations, that much of the material seemed quite ‘dark’ and there was not much about ‘hope’ or ‘resurrection.’ But I think that those espousing radical theology ultimately see it as a hopeful approach — one that has the power to shake people out of their complacency and motivate them to work for change.

3 thoughts on “Godly Mayhem and Radical Theology: A Weekend with Rollins, Moody and Elerick”

Thanks again Gladys for helping us to keep up to speed with some of the new ideas and theologies that are emerging. Much appreciated!

My main comment is this – and it is not a new one…. there is something very disconcerting about new ideas which seem to need third level education and / or a degree in philosophy / sociology / anthropology / theology etc etc in order to understand them. Why has discourse about vibrant, accessible, soul and mind enriching, personal (though not private) faith apparently dropped off the radar? People in need / distress need to know that God loves them – a lot – and I really don’t understand why we need to try to invent an apparently anthropocentric version of Christianity for today’s world… what is wrong with authentic coherent Biblical faith? Norman Hamilton

Hi Norman, You are not alone with this critique – it also was raised at the conference and remains unresolved … especially the ‘elitism’ of seeming to need a third-level education and also the predominance of white males in articulating this theology.

Welcome to Building a Church Without Walls, a website for people who are excited about how Christianity is developing in the 21st Century. I am sociologist at Queen's University Belfast.

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"In The Deconstructed Church, two veteran sociologists of religion give us our most extensive, comprehensive, and revealing ethnographic study of the worldwide phenomenon known as the emerging Christian movement ..." - William H. Willimon